# 1 Timothy 4.5 **Book:** [1 Timothy](/codex/1-timothy/) · NASB95 ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 3. forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth. 4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving: > > **5. for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.** > > 6. If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now: 7. but refuse profane and old wives' fables. And exercise thyself unto godliness: (1 Timothy 4:3-7, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 3. forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving. > > **5. For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.** > > 6. If you instruct the brothers of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed. 7. But refuse profane and old wives’ fables. Exercise yourself toward godliness. (1 Timothy 4:3-7, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 3. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: > > **5. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.** > > 6. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. (1 Timothy 4:3-7, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 3. forbidding to marry, to abstain from meats that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those believing and acknowledging the truth, 4. because every creature of God [is] good, and nothing [is] to be rejected, with thanksgiving being received, > > **5. for it is sanctified through the word of God and intercession.** > > 6. These things placing before the brethren, thou shalt be a good ministrant of Jesus Christ, being nourished by the words of the faith, and of the good teaching, which thou didst follow after, 7. and the profane and old women's fables reject thou, and exercise thyself unto piety, (1 Timothy 4:3-7, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** [Paul](/codex/paul-the-apostle/), who names himself in the opening line (1:1) and writes in the first person throughout. Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them Luke Timothy Johnson (Anchor Bible, 2001), William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and its acceptance in the second-century church. - **Audience:** Timothy, Paul's "true child in faith" (1:2), whom Paul had urged to stay on at Ephesus to stop certain men from teaching "a different doctrine" (1:3). Timothy came from Lystra, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father, and had travelled with Paul since the second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). The letter is addressed to him, but its directions on prayer, worship, overseers, deacons and widows are meant to order the church at [Ephesus](/codex/church-at-ephesus/) as a whole (3:14-15). - **Location:** not stated. Paul says he left Timothy at Ephesus "when I was going into Macedonia" (1:3) and hopes to rejoin him soon (3:14; 4:13), so Macedonia is the usual suggestion for where the letter was written. - **Time period:** on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-65, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts, since the journey in 1:3 is hard to fit into the Acts narrative. Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice. - **Literary context:** Paul's answer (4:3-5) to teachers who, "in later times", forbid marriage and command abstinence from foods, teachings he traces to "seducing spirits and doctrines of demons" (4:1-3). ## Theological reading "for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer." (1 Timothy 4:5, ASV) **Every creature of God is good.** The verse completes the argument of 4:4: "every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving". This echoes the verdict of creation, "God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). It agrees with Jesus' teaching, which Mark explains as "making all meats clean" (Mark 7:19), and with Paul's own conviction "that nothing is unclean of itself" (Romans 14:14). **Sanctified by word and prayer.** Food is set apart for holy use when it is received with thanksgiving. "The word of God" may mean scripture's affirmation that creation is good, or the use of scriptural words in blessings said at meals; readers differ. "Prayer" here is the thanksgiving of verses 3 and 4. Either way, nothing new is added to the food. The believer receives it as God's gift and gives thanks for it. **Against false asceticism.** The error Paul opposes is not voluntary fasting or a personal decision not to marry. It is a teaching that forbids what God "created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth" (4:3). To treat God's good gifts as defiling in themselves is to judge the Creator. See [1 Timothy 4.1-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-1-5/) and [1 Timothy 4.4](/codex/1-timothy-4-4/). ## Key words _Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word._ - None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet. ## Quoted in **Arguments and defeaters:** - [Christians Not Under Mosaic Law](/codex/christians-not-under-mosaic-law/), via [1 Timothy 4.3-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-3-5/) **Concepts:** - [Marijuana and the Bible](/codex/marijuana-and-the-bible/), via [1 Timothy 4.4-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-4-5/) - [Mosaic Law](/codex/mosaic-law/), via [1 Timothy 4.3-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-3-5/) **People:** - [Plato](/codex/plato/), via [1 Timothy 4.1-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-1-5/) **Lexicon:** - [H2896 - tov](/codex/h2896-tov/), via [1 Timothy 4.1-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-1-5/), [1 Timothy 4.4-5](/codex/1-timothy-4-4-5/) ## Notes _Your annotations._ ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.